Titan Down
by Calico Yorki
Summary: A mission on the Southern Continent gets Cyborg miles in over his head. WARNING: Gore, Adult Themes, Possible Traumatic Triggers. If you feel that you are in any way at risk by reading about these things, marital abuse, or addiction, anything at all, it may be best for you to not read this. You can just go off and read a songfic about Beast Boy and Raven, and be none worse for it.
1. Discovery

Some days, we cannot avoid a tragedy. There may be a villain who spits in the face of peace, and displays an ulcerous refutation of negotiation. There will inevitably come a day where someone has to die, and on some days, this will only be after far too many innocent people are cut down in mindless waste.

Then, there are other days. Those days where nobody has to die, and everybody gets to live. Those days are precious. If it weren't for those rare days, even I wouldn't have the iron stomach to handle it. Then again, my stomach has some sterner materials put into it. I also have kidneys of titanium.

You've probably guessed whose story this is. Cyborg, tin man of the Teen Titans. I would usually spend this kind of day hanging with Beast Boy, or any of the others. But my dad at S.T.A.R. got a tip that something wasn't right at one of their more secluded bases, and sent me to personally investigate. Some would think that only a psycho dad would send his own son in to handle something that could be incredibly dangerous. I've learned that he only requested me out of all others because he wouldn't trust anyone else to figure out a technological problem to save innocent lives.

I just really, _really_ wished I had brought the others along. "Ain't no problem I can't handle alone," I told 'em! "I'll be back in time to smack down BB at another game," I declared! Yeah, then I realized we weren't just going South, we were going way way way way _waaay_ South. "Oh man," I grumbled as we passed by Patagonia's furthest edge, "Dad, would it have _killed_ you to mention the whole Antarctica thing?" At least I wouldn't be in danger of overheating. _Stay positive, Cyborg,_ I told myself. _Be brave._

We arrived without any issue, and to my relief, Dad had finished work on new cold weather attachments. This way, my biological parts wouldn't turn to ice. That was always a good thing to avoid. Attachments giving a low, comforting hum, I entered the icy base without issue. No guards? Well, this place seemed pretty hush-hush. Other than the penguins, I doubted they would need that much protection. Then, two hovering drones darted down to stop me, and scan me. They immediately recognized me, and disappeared above to allow me through. I looked up, and saw a horde of the buggers milling around the ceiling like a wasp nest.

Eager to get over the eerie similarity in the behavior ("Dammit Dad," I griped to no one in particular, "could we please institute a design policy against 'wanton creepiness?' _Please!_"), I headed deeper in. Very few people were around, and those who were seemed regretfully too busy maintaining consoles to say hello. When I at last got to the center, I found a petite little blonde staring up at me. She bobbed her head towards a ceiling-high canister of a chamber, and wordlessly led me in. "Hello to you too," I sighed, following.

Inside of the room was something I couldn't quite wrap my head around. It seemed to almost be made out of glowing organs, lit by a liquid golden-orange aura. Circling it was a six-ring array of shining platinum-hued metal. Monitors all over were carefully observing the energy readings, and it looked like something big was about to happen.

The blonde scientist opened her mouth to explain, but suddenly, we felt like the object was, well, taking a huge breath. Then, the screaming started: "I'M STILL ALIVE! LET ME OUT! I'M STILL ALIVE, DAMN YOU!" The creature started to bulge on one side, and its glow flickered, then faded. The rings quickly began to rust, and crash to the ground - with my sonic cannon, I shot one ring away before it could fall on top of some fleeing techs.

When the orange ball of guts finally lost all of its light, something broke its surface with a spray of blood. Good God I had never seen so much blood in all of my life. The blood frothed and spewed, and made my stomach churn violently. When the orb completely ruptured like a popped balloon, the blood rained down on the awed and silenced room. Yet while the organ ball seemed to be nothing but congealed blood, something definitely was not.

It was a woman. Well, basically. The narrow golden eyes, those freaky ears, and of course the muzzle and fur notwithstanding. She was stark naked, but too much blood covered her to make anything out. She seemed to be ready to speak, but then pitched forward. Swinging back, she fell on her back in a dead faint.

Scientists closed in to inspect her, while the blonde scientist - thinking quickly - snatched up a waste basket for me to vomit into.

So much for that legendary stomach of steel.


	2. Suspicious Minds

After the incident, I was shown to my quarters tucked into a little corner of the complex. It took a few good hours of steaming and buffing before I felt clean again. Cleaning the blood rain out of my armor and instruments also helped me think more clearly on what I'd seen.

It was definitely not an everyday occurrence that some weird, supposedly alien woman busts her way out of a much more apparently alien ball of floating guts. Raven and I had once helped a woman give birth, and what I had seen in the central chamber had made my skin crawl with a connection to what should have stayed a beautiful memory.

Of course, the 'woman' who had been retrieved from ground zero of the bloodsplosion was a different matter altogether. Once the blood had been thoroughly scrubbed off of her, it was clear that she resembled a hyena. However, her fur was magenta with dark red, almost black spots, same as her hands, feet, and the tip of her muzzle. She had messy hair of the same color, swept forward into a ridiculous reagent which sprang back to life as soon as she'd been unconsciously dried off.

She was currently resting in a hospital bed, dressed in spare pajamas and a fuzzy robe. I had learned that Section Head Baker - the professional, quiet woman who had so generously given me a waste basket to spew into - had given her own robe to the woman long before she entered my room, blonde ponytail almost a-twitch with agitation. I bluntly asked, "Mind telling me what in the hell is going on here?" At the withering glare she gave me, I hastily tacked on an "Um, uh, please?" in an attempt to abate her rage. Thankfully, she stopped glaring at daggers at me in order to take the rubber band off of a file.

Placing the file on my desk, Baker began looking through various documents and photos involving what apparently had led up to the disaster this morning. "This is all which we have on the project," she muttered tersely. "We were attempting to gain an understanding of the extraterrestrial object when the situation went horrifically awry, as you were unfortunate enough to pay witness to." I stood to the side of the mahogany desk top, leaning heavily on my metal gauntlets. The pictures seemed to have just recently been completely compiled, as one showed the bloodsoaked room. One scarce document covered the apparently alien woman from within the gut-ball.

One of the pictures attached to that document, more than any of the others, really disturbed me. It was a shot of her lying peacefully on her back, and although the nudity made me extremely uncomfortable, what really made my stomach do somersaults was the twisted scar and round little burn marks just above her crotch. Baker nodded at my worried look: "The burn marks are, ahem. Consistent with someone whom has been burned intentionally by a cigarette." Just saying the words made her look ready to be sick.

However, one photo set my teeth on edge. With Baker's reluctant permission, I lifted an angled, full-bodied shot of the full-figured female, taken from the back. I examined her mid-back, and scanned some odd markings there. It seemed that the scientists had been too preoccupied to notice the familiarity of the symbols. I began to attempt to reconstruct the words with the computers in my head, but what I found did not put me at ease in any way.

"Section Head Baker," I managed to get the words out, "the characters on the woman's back are deteriorated, but it says...'Physician, Heal Thyself.' It's a Biblical quote." It took Baker a while to digest the realization of what this meant.

She'd been found in an extra terrestrial object, but this bizarre woman was from Earth.


	3. Too Long

**Author's Notes:** This is told from the mystery woman's perspective. This will be more confused than future chapters told from her perspective. Enjoy!

... ... ...

It's been much too long.

I lost my sense of self in that...Thing. All of myself was being consumed by it. I lost all track of time - but in the end, I wasn't a dish it could handle. It should have known better than to process me whilst I was still alive. That probably means someone was trying to stop me from ever coming back home.

I hope whomever was behind this saw how well that worked out. I haven't lost my touch in ripping out of a monster's guts - even if the Guolm was nothing but guts. I digress.

I'm unconscious, but I know that I'm free. I can feel it in my bones that the future is so, so bright.

I can't wait to wake up. It will - Wait a minute...I can hear something. That's a voice. A young man's voice. A deep, brassy voice.

Score. It'll make me a bit disoriented, but I need some...Human contact.


	4. Touch, I Remember Touch

**Author's Notes:** I had planned on saving this for tomorrow, but I couldn't leave you waiting, my freaky darlings. Yes I'm calling my readers and reviewers that now. No you don't have a choice in the matter.

**Disclaimer (About Damn Time Addition):** Ask yourself this: if I owned Teen Titans, would I really be writing fanfiction? Exactly.

... ... ...

Raven once asked me why I have trouble finding love. She even called me charming, which was nice, but not exactly comfortable coming from the girl I consider my baby sister. I guess my problem is that I'm afraid to be hurt, crazy as it sounds coming from a giant machine-enhanced teenager with attitude. More than that, though, I'm afraid to hurt someone. Robin has Starfire, Beast Boy has Raven - they can have each other's backs if someone goes after their loved ones.

But Bumblebee and I didn't exactly...Yeah. Talking about that'll just salt the wound. But I learned really quickly that I didn't want people important to me getting targeted by scum who were too afraid to take a war to me face to face. I guess the entire reason I was attracted to Bumblebee is that she doesn't need _anybody_ to take care of her - she can be her team's big sister, and trash anyone who tries to hurt them if they even look at her boys the wrong way.

I don't normally go all bleeding heart on people about my emotions and my love life, but it's important to understand the little anecdote I'm about to share with you. I had been sent to check up on the mystery hyenagirl - funnily enough, no one else wanted to do a check up on a mutant who had ripped her way out of a freaky monster that had swallowed her up. So, I found her sleeping peacefully, and did some basic checks. No way in hell was I going to go near the chest of someone who had been burned and scarred so close to her - well, it just wouldn't be right. So, I turned up the reception on a pulse monitor on my palm, and carefully rolled up her shirt to examine her.

I did not expect what I found. The pictures had made it clear that she was well-built, but she had four-pack abs. "Damn," I muttered, shaking myself, "she's got abs to knock on, and I normally don't say that kind of thing..." I tried to work up the nerve to check her pulse, but a throaty chuckle made my blood run ice cold.

The woman purred, "If that's true, why don't you start knockin'?" I quietly, slowly turned to look her in the eye, somehow feeling cold in my steely boots. Her amber-gold eyes and that grin looked impossibly sharp. She winked at me, and I swear, I could not remember the last time I had been that uncomfortable.

My words tumbled out, trying to excuse myself, when the woman suddenly grabbed me. She used my arms to hoist herself up, and put her animal face just inches from my own. "I've not been a normal human for a while, and you just might have noticed I'm a bit...Unlike myself, at the moment," she whispered. I nodded, taking her word for it.

"Now please, remind me...Do human beings kiss with the lips, or the tongue, or the teeth?" Teeth? _Teeth?_ Did she just say - "Oh well. Teeth are the most fun way," she cackled, flashing a mouth crammed with fangs. Yes she did say she was gonna kiss me with her teeth.

"HEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAALP," I yelled, the hydraulics in my arms screaming in protest as I attempted to keep her snapping jaws from catching me. "SOMEBODY HEEEAAAALP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I'M IN DANGER OF A HYENA BITE! SHE'S GOT THE STRONGEST BITE OF ANY MAMMAL YOU HEAR ME? I KNOW 'CAUSE BB RANDOMLY SHOVES ANIMAL FACTS AT ME! HEEEEEEEEEEEALP PLEASE HEEEEEEEEEEEAAAALLLLP!"

Just as footsteps approached, she put her fingers against her lips in thought. "Oh, that's true. This isn't me. But who is 'me?'" As she sat down on the bed heavily, I tumbled away, terrified. Baker entered with a weaponized gauntlet sweeping the room, and spotted me on the floor, in the fetal position.

"Did the furry woman try to bite you, Cyborg?"

"Yes'm."

"It's okay, now," she seethed, taking aim at the woman. "I've got pepper spray installed." This made the hyena woman look at her curiously, and cross her legs. "What?"

The woman fidgeted her hands, intensely focused. "Pepper...Pepper...Pepper! My name is Pepper!" Baker and I shared an uneasy stare, then looked back to her. "Pepper...Doolittle. I remember that, because it made it almost impossible to be taken seriously as a doctor. And I got that tattoo because I wanted to symbolize my devotion to the medical profession! Interesting." Indeed it was. I was still trying in vain to hide behind the bedstand.

Pepper wiggled her clawed toes, and sighed much more calmly. "Now it's all coming back to me. And that means the show's just beginning." She stretched, and before we could question her any further, she was laid down again; asleep with a peaceful smile on her face.

Meanwhile, I _knew_ that I had years of counseling ahead of me.


	5. Face To Face

After Baker left Pepper's room, I decided (and against my better judgment) to look over her vital signs. It appeared mostly normal, save that everything was...It's difficult to word it. Her biorhythms just looked more efficient than a normal human's. Her metahuman traits were going to be interesting to see, to say the very least.

I'd been left a file to look over, but I needed to sit down before I could handle any more of this day. Really, I had just intended to sit down. But the biological part of my brain needed rest, so I decided to just go into sleep mode for a minute. Just a minute. I woke up two hours later, and swore loudly. "Language," a familiar voice drawled to chastise me. I gave a wheeze, and looked for hiding places.

Then, I noticed Pepper with relief. Relief that she was dressed, at least. She wore some kind of button-up shirt underneath a russet jacket, and a ratty scarf. Her cargo pants were covered in pockets, and the ends were tucked into her combat boots. In fact, I noticed that she had a very practical outfit on - Robin would probably approve of all the places she had to store her belongings on her person, if she hadn't already proven herself a psycho.

Yeah, there was a problem with that too. Pepper was still absorbed in her reflection seen in a polished medical device, not really looking at me. She suddenly sighed, looking at her animalistic muzzle in profile. "I really would have done myself a favor to check a mirror, once in a while," the hyena woman mused. "I simply look like an animal! My favorite animal, but that's little consolation." She shrugged, and stretched her arms for the ceiling as she popped her fingers. "Oh well, I've learned to take the rough with the smooth. I believe your name is 'Cyborg?'" I nodded cautiously, still not buying this new, nicer Pepper.

So, you can understand my surprise at her confused look. "What a way to look at me," she murmured, sitting quietly down on her bed. "I'm trying to think of a better way to put it than to say you look terrified." She propped her elbows up on her knees, and leaned her chin on her hands. "I do suppose I should explain myself, for whatever I've done to alienate you. I'm a lucid dreamer, of sorts. I can sometimes get a feeling for what's going on around me while I'm asleep. If I try to force myself to wake up, though, I'm really just not myself. I should have known better; I'm sorry if I scared you." She promptly laid back in her bed, and stared intently at the ceiling.

Now, part of me wanted to speak - but what could I say? I couldn't tell her that I forgave her, because I just didn't, at that point. But it just didn't feel right to call her out when she looked genuinely regretful of her actions. So, I bravely decided to avoid any possible conflict, and began to look over the file I'd been left.

That proved to be an interesting read-through, to say the least. It turned out that the bizarre extraterrestrial object which Pepper had torn her way out of had fallen from the sky, as if it were crashing. Readings suggested that it had basic mental functions, but only enough to tell it to rest and recuperate after the cold and the battering of the Southern Sea. It ended up found by a S.T.A.R. tech whom had been testing a survival exoskeleton, and it was brought back for examination. The object had been observed for two days when its readings became erratic, and I was called in.

Only after re-reading twice to make sure I knew everything I needed to, did I notice a sticky note on the inside of the folder. "Just great," I breathed, reading Baker's short, sharp cursive. I was expected to _gently_ get information out of Pepper, and avoid anything which could disturb her or cause distress. Hopefully, they'd found out something which assured them that Pepper wouldn't flip out on me first.

"Uh, Miss...Doolittle?" Pepper perked up, looking over at me when I said her last name. If I was lucky, she'd stay this calm. "If it doesn't bother you to talk about it," I said cautiously, "what was that thing you were found inside of? Why exactly were you inside of it? And why did it crash to Earth?" She mulled over these questions for a while.

Soon enough, the answers started coming. "To put a name to it, many call it a 'guolm,'" she began. "It was artificially created to respond to the psychic impulses of certain races. The ones who designed it had no concept of language, instead communicating purely with telepathic images and sounds. Thus, they had no records that could be deciphered by the Universe at large, in order to understand the purpose of the guolm.

"They principally feed by processing the recently deceased," she explained. "The one which claimed me had been artificially driven to keep me from ever reaching Earth. If the one behind this is whom I believe it to be, then the fatuous egotist didn't want me to warn the human race of the danger he poses. However, they don't process the living for a reason: they begin to malfuction if they do." She paused, apparently allowing me to process what she said. I took that opportunity to begin compiling what she was telling me into an audio file.

Pepper then chuckled, and said with surprising cheer, "I suppose I was on a trip into the sun, when it crossed through the field of Earth's radio broadcasts. I'd bet that it was overwhelmed, and fell to the surface, where it was discovered. Its inert state allowed me to wake myself back up, and bust my way out." She smiled at me, those narrow eyes still flashing with that playful little gaze. "I'm going to tell you so you don't have to ask: yes, there is a threat coming for Earth. Soldiers of fortune have been sent to test our defenses. Now that I'm proven to be alive, they'll be coming after me first." The hyena woman leaned towards me, suddenly giving a grim frown.

"Normally, I wouldn't ask someone to help me do this," she said in a quiet voice, "but I need your help. I am so, so sorry, Cyborg, but it's going to take all of the Teen Titans, and the Justice League as well, to prove that the Earth is defended. If we can prove that the Earth will fight tooth and nail, and with exceptional ability, to protect its people and resources, then we can prevent the real invasion force from coming here." She scratched at her scalp, visibly troubled. "I am so, so sorry that I couldn't get here sooner. But I'll be able to bring help to this cause. Please, just don't consider me an enemy, for this. I'm here to help." Even as she said this, I could tell that she blamed herself.

I didn't pretend to understand how she felt. This was someone who had apparently left everything she knew on a mission, and had been changed by it. As I looked at her, it was becoming clearer. What told me the truth were her eyes - as narrow as they were, as apparent as they made her sly mind, they were still so young. "You're not much older than me," I stated, not posing it as a question. Pepper scratched the mane on the back of her neck, looking embarrassed. "Twenty? Twenty-one?" She shook her head. "...Nineteen?" The shy shifting of her eyes told me I'd hit the mark.

For a while, neither of us spoke. Then, Pepper began to fidget her hands again, and tried to find the words to explain herself. "There was once a very _creative_ project to make super soldiers," she began. "They used a half-broken relic they'd found, uncovered by a crashing alien space craft. The scientists had the fantastic idea to combine these two, and discovered that the resulting energy projection could bring out a metahuman transformation. The creations were taken care of, and don't worry, I don't mean culled. We were all fed, given the most normal life possible." Her eyes got that wistful look in them, of someone talking about a rock band they'd put together in high school.

"I was a stand-out exceptional case," she continued dryly. "They didn't bother giving us super hero names, because the public wasn't supposed to know about us. I only really was devoted to them because of the care they gave my sister. Clover, the little moron, had gotten addicted to cocaine. And I mean _addicted._ When she started losing teeth, mom and I had no idea what to do. About the time we both were convinced to take part in the project, the group of scientists began developing ways to rehabilitate her extreme addiction. By the time I'd come back from my first extended mission, they had developed a substance with similar results to a cocaine high, but none of the toxic effects. They predicted that in a few years, she wouldn't even be dependent on the substitute. They'd even made false teeth to replace the ones she'd lost!" The smile on her face was getting infectious. "Then, my mom started providing funding to their project, and everything seemed to click. I finished my studies as a doctor under the group's tutelage, and really felt like they were part of my family."

Pepper steepled her fingers, then, gazing down at her hands. "So, I jumped at the chance to accomplish the mission which sent me into space. A sect of aliens had taken refuge on Earth, and contacted our group when they discovered our...Specialties," she chuckled at the phrase. "The more violent members of their race had cast them out for seeking peaceful alliances, and thus, they came to us to warn us of plans to turn Earth into one big resource-gathering colony. They provided me with a ship and other equipment to gather information. I walked on beaches of jeweled sand, swam in oceans I could breathe in...It was an amazing journey. But it was true that Earth was in danger, and I was ready to return." Her smile fell to a frown, and began to shift into a scowl.

"I'd been found out," the hyena woman murmured. "My ship was blown sky high while I was stopping at a suspicious event on Pluto, and the guolm captured me while I was distracted for just a _second_." Pepper snapped her fingers for emphasis, but smiled apologetically when I jumped a bit. "Sorry. Point is, I gathered all of the information I needed, and importantly, I got back to Earth to share it. Unfortunately, those soldiers of fortune I mentioned should be closing in soon. And I have a feeling that a particularly nasty somebitch is after me." She paused, looking at the palms of her hands. Pawpads had formed there.

I finished compiling all of the information I'd heard, and sent it to Baker for review. "Look," I rejoined the conversation awkwardly, "I'm not sure how far I can take it, but I trust you. If you'll cooperate, I'm sure we can - " The lights flickering made me give pause. The words died on my lips, as the complex went dark. Then, the red emergency lights went on, and Pepper was looking up at the ceiling again.

"Looks like it's starting," she sighed, as a roar could be heard somewhere frighteningly close.


	6. Beatdown

Pepper and I hurried out of the door, checking for anyone who might have been injured. We were found by a couple of scientists, and with little need for encouragement, we followed them to a fortified command center. There, Baker was issuing orders, now that everyone was accounted for. On a bank of screens which dominated one wall, a display from outside started to come through. Baker approached me, and explained that something was jamming the signal and had also cut the power.

When that something appeared on the screens, no one knew quite how to react; only Pepper wasn't all that disturbed, standing off to the side with her arms crossed. The creature floating above the base had a single, unblinking eye on the bottom of its body, and three gnarled limbs twisting out from up top. From what we could make out, it had bulging lobes randomly growing on its body, flashing with bands of multicolored light. Though it was definitely a nasty-looking monster, it didn't make any threatening moves.

Then, the convulsions began. Its eye widened just a bit, and began to split down the middle. Fluids from within gushed out, followed closely by blood. It fell out of the air, and in the instant the camera cut out, a huge crash shook the entire complex. Everyone jumped at that, but what really spooked us was the roar we heard. I cautiously peeked out of the bunker's doorway, and didn't like what I saw. The floating monster had crashed through the roof of the base, crumpling in a gigantic pool of blood just off-center.

To my disgust, the last of its lobes to still be flashing continued pulsating, faster and faster. It suddenly popped out of place, and rolled unpleasantly down to the floor. It went dark, and in an unwelcome repeat of earlier in the day, something inside began to tear its way out with a spray of fluid. I suddenly found myself yanked inside by Pepper, as she slammed the door shut. "Watch the display," she muttered, "and get ready to meet soldier of fortune Nuuur." On the screens, the repulsive display of the detached lobe ripping open continued.

Then, it completely popped with a splash of fluids. This left a bizarre creature, too seamlessly merged between organics and technology to be of Earth. It was covered in armor of maroon and yellow, its face jutting out and tipped by four nostrils. Between its crazed eyes was this blade of a horn, and as it crouched, its armor plates stretched as though the body underneath was pulsing. Right now, it was just waiting - but going on just how pissed it looked, I doubted it was gonna wait much longer.

A tap on my shoulder caused me to whip my head around, startled. Pepper chuckled, causing the flesh left of my face to heat up. "I'm going to go give Nuuur a walloping," she grinned nonchalantly. "You can join me, or try to get those fancy security drones up and working." As she walked to the door, ignoring the frantic orders that Baker seethed after her, I struggled with my choice.

I struggled for all of five seconds, then followed Pepper right out of the door. She strolled out into the open, as I readied my sonic cannon. The beast, Nuuur, whatever it was stared her down, becoming more and more agitated. When Pepper blew it a kiss, that caused it to snap, and I mean snap like a twig. It screamed, revealing jaws packed with sharpened slabs for teeth, and began to bull rush the hyena girl.

Time seemed to slow down. Nuuur stood at least thirteen feet tall, and judging by the craters its strides left, it probably weighed in at a few tons' worth of sin. Pepper was about as tall as me, a bit shorter if you didn't count her hair, and I wasn't sure whether or not she had a death wish based on how she wasn't getting out of the damn way. I couldn't get a good shot in without coming closer, and that was already looking like a vain attempt.

Suddenly, something strange happened. Pepper's body glowed a reddish-magenta, and shifted in its build. She flung her hands up, revealing much longer arms, and huge, razor sharp claws. Her strength was enough to overturn Nuuur, and send it skidding away. With her transformation completed, Pepper was much taller (hunched over as she was) and her arms were half again as long as her now digitigrade legs.

Talons clicking audibly as she ran, she snapped her elongated jaws to catch Nuuur's fingers. It was bigger, still, but that didn't save it from getting its digits crushed, spraying with blood that was blackish-purple. Its orange sheen was ot unlike oil, but the scream of pain reminded me that this thing was a living creature. Pepper yanked her head back _hard_, causing some kind of ligatures to stretch out and rip; she had caught Nuuur's other wrist, wrestling the hand away from herself. I don't know what made me realize that I was standing around like I was waiting in line at the DMV, but once that occurred to me, I decided to charge in to help.

Pepper had ripped the fingers clean off, and her grinning face was stained with 'blood.' A jerk of her opponent's mangled hand glanced off of her blocking hands, with enough force to shunt her back a few feet. Nuuur was screaming bloody murder, trying to slam its weight down on her in a full assault. Pepper could not be overpowered, however; she began glowing again, and her arms extended further, coated in spiked bone armor. Nuuur didn't anticipate such a firm resistance. You can understand how the blast of my sonic cannon to its neck took it completely by surprise.

When Nuuur faltered, Pepper shoved it over again, and sprang up on top. Fists slamming into its chest again and again, she cracked the armor: this revealed a hideous body of dark brown, the color of a scab, pulsing violently and leaking the oil or blood. It flailed, trying to fight Pepper off, howling in fury and pain. However, one final blow made the ground shake just a bit; Nuuur went still, its pulsations spasming to a stop.

I gazed up at Pepper, stunned. She was lost in a cloud of pale pink steam, but emerged looking mostly normal. She wiped her mouth, smacking her lips in distaste, then returned my gaze. Though the hyena girl tried not to, she couldn't help but begin laughing.

Funnily enough, I couldn't help but share the relieved laugh with her.


	7. Instant Crush

**Pepper**

In what I'd discovered was an Antarctic facility, it took surprisingly little time for the resident technological experts to get the power back up and running. I had to give it to them, these S.T.A.R. personnel were quite efficient. Thankfully, they hadn't had to clean up the mangled beast which had crashed through their roof: it had begun to fade, like a mirage, and now only the blood was left to mop up. The wasp-like drones milling about the ceiling had set themselves to the task of repairing the roof, and were making good time.

Sure, I could have helped. But my powers hadn't been employed in quite a while, and I was feeling pretty strung-out from jumping headlong back into using them. Whilst the petite head scientist (named Baker, if I understood correctly) walked amongst her personnel issuing orders, her ponytail bobbing as she went, Cyborg had been sent to look me over. He had that apparent look of amazement on his face that my arms were still perfectly fine after their transformations. They always did, but it was just so endearing on his half-mechanical features. Thankfully, the reflex test distracted him from how my cheeks were starting to heat up in embarrassment; the fur covering my face certainly helped.

All of the tests were soon finished, but Cyborg decided not to walk off and leave me. No, rather, he sat beside me on the back of the console which had been upended by the battle with Nuuur. My face had _really_ burned when I realized just what a miserable job I'd done at containing the battle's radius of destruction, but I digress. Cyborg gave me a look with those two mismatched eyes, one a glowing glassy red, one so beautifully human, and I knew what the question would be. It nearly took my powers to keep me calm enough to talk.

The subject of my powers was what I began to go into detail about, with Cyborg. "It's basically witchcraft," I explained, "illuminated to me by the relic, enhanced by the alien technology. I can multiply my cells and strategically mutate myself in order to suit the situation. Only the materials which exist in my own body are available for use, but that still leaves me a _lot_ of options. I also digest food better, process oxygen better, and generally, my body just works better than a normal human." I don't know why I flexed my bicep just then. It honestly made me feel a bit more embarrassed than before.

Meanwhile, Cyborg gave me that self-assured smile, and my damn heart skipped a beat. Why did he have to be so cute? Secretly, I kind of knew it couldn't work between us. Sure, I had human female genitalia, and not _hyena_ female genitalia - that would have been a dealbreaker anywhere, any time - but I wasn't even sure if he _had_ the equipment. But was I really so vain as to make those things the only ones that mattered? Was I really going to deny feelings which made me so, so alive, just over an impossibility of sex?

Whilst I was having this very bawdy but meaningful debate in my head, Cyborg had begun speaking. I flapped my hands defensively; "I um! I'm sorry, Cyborg, could you run that by me again?" His chuckle made me shift around where I sat, just a bit: he had such a nice laugh. He explained once again that since winter was coming in Antarctica, the personnel were going to lock up the base and take the S.T.A.R. transports out. He wanted to know if we could head back to Jump City to meet his team, before the rest of the bounty hunters.

I tried to shove the similarity to a girl meeting her boyfriend's family away, far away, where it couldn't make me blush any more than I already was. "It would be my honor," I said, and I immediately winced at the overly dramatic phrasing. It worked for Cyborg, though, and he sprang up with a hearty whoop to help with cleaning the mess. I smiled after him, marvelling at just how much vim and vigor he had.

So engrossed was I in Cyborg that another figure sitting down by my side nearly made me jump. Baker sighed heavily, slipping one foot out of its shoe to scratch it against the back of her other leg. She was short and whip-thin, and had an aura of seriousness about her. Right now, as she took off her orange shades to rub at the eyes beneath, Baker's years began to show. Shadows crowded beneath her eyes, making her look all the more weary. The orange tinted shades went back on however, acting like a shield and mask for her. If I'd never seen her remove the glasses, I would have never felt the concern I felt right then.

"I'm tired, Miss Doolittle," Baker grumbled, leaning against me. She slung her legs around to the other side of the console, abandoning her other sandal with its counterpart, so that she could lay her head on my shoulder more comfortably. More comfortably for her, but I wasn't complaining, necessarily. I couldn't help but admit to myself with a smile that when she wasn't on full attack mode, she wasn't half-bad to look at. Her eyes were closed, but her brow furrowed and her lips pursed as she thought deeply. Hands rested on her abdomen, all of Baker's fingers were woven together, save for her index fingers tapping together. I shouldn't have dwelled on it, but I couldn't help but think to myself:

_Damn, she's cute._

I let her rest against me for a while, and she took full advantage of it. By the time Baker had awoken, night had fallen. She swore quietly, but when she saw that the drones had finished repairing the ceiling damage and that the blood was now just a faint discoloration on the floor, it was obvious that there wasn't much to be pissed about. The Section Head blew air out of her lips in what seemed a vain attempt to keep up her anger. It wasn't working.

"You know, you might never see me again, after this," Baker whispered. I bobbed my head, not quite agreeing nor disagreeing with her. "I really, really want to learn more about you. And I'm not trying to be a callous scientist. I just mean that...You were impressive. You kept my men safe, and you kept me safe. Thank you for that, by the way." She shifted back around to look at me, leaning back a bit to take the full sight in. "I hate long good byes, so just tell me whether or not you intend to see me ever again. I won't lie - it would make me a lot happier if you'd only say good bye like you were coming back. And, tell me more about what you saw. Out in the stars." She couldn't help but lean back against me.

For a while, I hummed in thought. "Well, I can sum it up in a little story from what I've seen out in space," I said quietly. Baker gave me a little shove, but I snickered, "No, no, I promise, you'll like it. They were a race of fish people that could swim in an aether, covering their homeworld. Their scales flashed and flickered, and they occasionally half-disappeared in the aether. So, a lot of people call them 'illusionary merfolk.'" Good. I had Baker listening. "Now, this was a big planet, a lot bigger than Earth," I continued. "They're a very emotionally invested race, let's say. If they have happy relationships, they have healthy bodies. They couldn't bear it if they had to say good bye to a friend or lover forever.

"In order to make sure they can find each other, they swap a little bit of their soul for a little bit of the other's soul," I murmured, shifting to look at Baker as she sat up again to stare back. I cradled the back of her head, enjoying a look that wasn't entirely surprised, and said with a smile, "They taught me how to share my soul with another. It goes a little bit like this." And I kissed her. I didn't intend to slip in my tongue, so I was surprised when Baker took the opportunity to do so. Meanwhile, to anyone watching - and for Baker's sakes, I hope no one was - they would have seen a rippling glow coursing between our bodies, somehow within and without at the same time. To us, it felt like being wrapped in a warm blanket while it was raining outside on a Sunday in the frigid grip of December. Exactly what it felt like.

I'll never understand how people can kiss for so long. Maybe we start breathing through our ears for the process or something. When we at last separated, we both wiped our mouths clean. I was very happy that I'd thoroughly rinsed Nuuur's blood out of my teeth before kissing a woman who had so quickly earned my admiration.

Baker smirked, and tried her hardest not to laugh. "Kiss me when I ask for it," she chastised me halfheartedly.

"Then I expect you to ask politely," I shot back cheekily.


	8. Escape

**Cyborg**

Departure began the next day.

Among all of the three-man groups being picked up by transports, the last were Pepper, Baker, and myself. We crowded into the last Osprey-like craft as it touched down, in time for it to make a successful take-off. Blizzards were already surrounding the locked down base, and I was very happy to not be down there at the moment.

I wasn't so happy about sitting bitch between Pepper and Baker, but you can't win 'em all.

For a while, the trip seemed like it would be perfectly uneventful. Then, however, the pilot visibly got antsy. I could see something amiss on his radar - something following us at a high rate of speed. "Oh hell no," I groaned, getting up carefully to look back through the angled windows in the back of the transport.

What I saw made me heave a long-suffering sigh. It was a long, gently curving ship, profile nearly matching a surfboard. Up on top were five glowing rings, and the main body was a fiery orange. The rings up top flashed from red to yellow, and suddenly, the ship behind us began to hurl lightning bolts. It looked to me like it was just playing with us.

Pepper soon got up to join me, and gave me a smile. She asked me playfully, "You feel like skydiving?" I grinned back, and shouted for the pilot to open the door. Baker reluctantly fastened herself in more tightly, as a high-pitched scream of air signaled the exit door opening. Once it did, I motioned for the lady to go first. "Such a gentleman," Pepper swooned in jest, before beginning to transform again. I nearly lost my lunch as her shoulder blades seemed to jut out of her back, and stretch the bone and flesh to become wings.

Just before she leaped out to catch a breeze, I screamed, "Pepper, your powers can be just plain ol' _nasty!_" This seemed to give her a laugh, but I couldn't hear it as she leapt into the wind. She was gliding in smooth, wide circles down towards the ship. I decided that there wasn't going to be a better time, so I went for it.

A shout of my legendary battle cry "Booyah!" was sadly lost in the wind, as I plummeted through the air. Computers running calculations rapidly, I knew I'd land on the ship just fine after Pepper. It tried to move out of the way, but I kept my profile as narrow as I could, and landed before it could escape. With a terrific clang, my boots cratered the armor plating. The whole ship dipped dangerously, but righted itself. _Good_, I thought to myself. _I don't wanna test whether this thing can float._

Nearby, I spotted the empty space once occupied by a panel that Pepper had apparently ripped off - revealing an access shaft with rungs fused to the wall. Yelping as the golden circles began to spark back to life, I dived for the shaft and rapidly made my descent. My gulp seemed very loud in the quiet of the access shaft, as lightning surged past the mouth above my head. I managed to calm my breathing, though, and continued climbing down. If only my boots didn't sound like thunder as I went.

I wound up in some kind of cargo hold, filled with metal canisters and crates. I spotted Pepper motioning for me to crouch, and immediately hid behind a tall cylinder of metal. I peeked around, spotting a pair of guards. Both were very slender, armored in red and yellowish-orange, with crests atop their mostly featureless heads and a single glassy, cycloptic eye each. I got ready to arm my sonic cannon, but Pepper motioned as if she had a much better idea in mind.

Holding her hands just above the floor, Pepper rubbed one hand in circles on the back of the other. A pale, grayish-pink dust began to fall, and rolled towards the guards. It crept into their boots, and both shook their heads slightly, confused. When one accidentally bumped into the other, they promptly decided to have an argument, which escalated surprisingly quickly. It ended with both having shot each other at point blank range.

Pepper grinned my way. "Pheromones to amplify their violent impulses," she chuckled, loping over to the two. I followed, both impressed and a little bit disturbed, as Pepper opened the door with a badge she looted from one guard's body.

Through there, we found some kind of bridge. Standing in front of a massive console that wrapped around within the front half of the room, a distinctly female version of the two we'd put down typed in commands as she looked at various displays. Pepper and I both crept closer to look, and that's how we saw that one of the screens showed the storage room from which we'd entered.

Flung bodily away by Pepper, I could only watch in horror as the female alien - built like a runner and with three small lenses in an inverted triangle indicating eyes - spun and blasted her with a surge of molten energy. Pepper screamed in agony, falling and dragging her hand across a column four lit circles in an attempt to stay standing. Even after the energy faded, her head lolled and her body shook for the pain.

The bounty hunter drew closer to Pepper, but still noticed my approach. She expertly blocked each of my blows, until catching one punch with both hands. I rapidly changed my hand to a sonic cannon, and blasted her in the face at point blank range. I doubled my distance from the smoke cloud, still detecting some kind of signs of life.

Quick as a shot, she sprang out of the smoke and delivered a roundhouse kick that I barely blocked. I failed to prevent or avoid the uppercut to my jaw, however. I could taste blood, but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of seeing my pain. "Thank you ma'am," I grinned with my red-stained teeth, "may I have another?" Disturbingly, the female bounty hunter seemed to understand my words. Still more disturbing was the guttural laugh she gave.

She really made me wish I'd kept my mouth shut. Her blows came hard and fast, jarring my head with every strike. Her speed made me dizzy to follow her steps, her strength made stars explode in my vision for pain. When I fell to one knee, she cocked her leg back, ready to kick me right into the afterlife.

Then, came the scream. A spiked and segmented cord had ripped through her shoulder's armor and putrid flesh, right down to her black bones. She shrieked in fury, ready to kill Pepper, when a skull shaped hammer walloped her into submission. With some additional walloping to render her unconscious, I could see Pepper's transformation.

Two tendrils derived from her spinal cord arched from what I uncomfortably noticed were very generous hips. One was tipped by a serrated tailbone implement; the other was a hardened skull. Both rapidly decayed into pink vapors, and Pepper hoisted me up to my feet. Both of us looked very shakey, and I quite abruptly noticed that we were headed for the sea.

"Pepper," I said between panting for breath, "you tripped those circle-things."

"I _love_ the circle-things," she breathed in a loopy state.

"Can you focus long enough to tell me what the circle-things do?"

"Take one guess," she cackled, as the ship began blaring with gravelly sirens, and the console flashed red. The metahuman hyena girl yanked on my arm, and we ran over to a large, circular pod. She kicked on the access button, revealing one seat within. I was terrified that she might tell me to go without her, and this was re-enforced when she threw me into the seat.

That does _not_ mean I ever asked for her to promptly plop down on my lap and close the hatch on us. Whirring to life, the escape pod rolled out of the ship's bottom, and took to the air. I screamed for mercy, I screamed to be let off the ride, I screamed not just to say 'hi how ya doing' to Jesus, I was screaming to _bring Jesus to me_ to save me, I was so terrified. Pepper might have said I was overreacting, but I was too distracted by how close we missed the bulk of the ship crashing into the sea behind us.

As if I hadn't taken enough punishment, one wave knocked us down to bob on the surface of the sea. Then, the ship exploded with a deep _thud_ as it sank, and sent our escape pod careening atop a wave. Once the wave stopped, I had no idea where we were. I did know however that Pepper was, worryingly, not moving much.

Listening close, I could hear her high-pitched little snores. It all was so ridiculous that it suddenly dawned on me: this was just plain _hilarious._ I choked on a laugh, body shaking and causing Pepper to throw an elbow in her sleep for quiet. I sighed in relief, and just laid back to take a nap of my own.

As I went into sleep mode, I felt at peace.


	9. So Into You

**Cyborg**

Once again, my sleep setting had gone over too long. Way too long. It was dark and the stars were out above the escape pod. "Crap," I sighed; we'd still not been found by any sort of rescue crew.

Looking down, I saw Pepper - leaned on my chest, staring up at me. Her tail was wagging back and forth, the unruly, blackish-red fur on the tip brushing against the transparent lid of the pod. I wasn't sure whether a normal hyena wagged its tail when it was happy to see someone, but Pepper was a hyena girl, so maybe. The scariest thing was, I was using the fact that the girl lying on top of me was a hyena girl to justify a logical curiosity. My life really is just too weird, some days.

Pepper huffed, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. I gave her all the time she needed, not saying a word myself. Finally, she seemed to find the words that fit: "Cyborg," she murmured in the quiet, only broken by the waves lapping around us, "I put my trust in a guy, years back. He, he hurt me. Real bad." Images came back to me - the wounds on Pepper's lower body. "I'm not saying you'll hurt me like that, I promise. But, I've...I've had trouble putting trust in guys. You're different. I'm not sure, sure how I _feel_ about you. But it's nice. And I was wondering...Hoping, that you might give it a chance." She gulped. "I mean, maybe give _us_ a chance. And if it doesn't work out, I don't want us to...Give up on being friends." Pepper looked up at me, more vulnerable than any time I'd seen her before.

The metahuman hyena girl looked more vulnerable now than when she'd been struck by that bounty huntress's blast, hours ago. She wasn't telling me these things lightly - I could tell that Pepper felt she was taking a risk by baring her heart to me like this. I thought for a few minutes, then gently rubbed the back of her neck. "Pepper Doolittle," I began awkwardly, "I can tell it took a lot of guts to open up like this, and I have to say...I would _love_ to give 'us' a try." She looked almost astonished. "What? We won't know what'll happen until we give it a try," I smiled. "Keep in mind, though, I don't exactly have, well - " I was interrupted by a quick kiss on the lips. Pepper then ducked away, grinning up at me coyly. That fangfaced grin was getting the better of me, I swear.

Eventually, we were located by a boat of S.T.A.R. personnel. Baker was onboard, and revealed that we had actually ended up close to the tip of South America. That was where we were headed, and Pepper seemed highly interested in the destination.

Needless to say, that worried me more than a little bit.


End file.
